Steve and Sharon (One-shot Wednesday)
by abstract0118
Summary: After two years of not seeing each other, Steve and Sharon are re-united. The circumstances aren't the best, but they both know there is something between them that is tethering them together. Will the tension be too much? Set during Civil War and after (extra scenes). Steve and Bucky friendship included. Avengers partly included. ONE-SHOT WEDNESDAY. All characters owned by MARVEL.


**Sharon and Steve fanfiction set during and after Civil War. Contains a few Avengers. SPOILERS! (duh!) T/M at the end, but nothing MAJOR. Really nothing major. Just a precaution, but I would say T.**

"My mom tried to talk me out of enlisting, but not Aunt Peggy. She bought me my first knife holster." she said, a small smile on her face as we walked into the hotel that the both of us were staying at. I found it strange that we shared different memories of Peggy. We were the same age, but I knew Peggy when she was in the 20's and Sharon knew her as an old woman who used to fight for her country.

I didn't find it strange that I was attracted to Sharon, not that I wanted to come outright and say it to her, especially straight after the funeral. I treated them as two separate people. Sharon was courageous, beautiful and strong-willed, but I could say that about a lot of the dames nowadays, such as Natasha, Wanda and Maria. There was something about Sharon that made me feel different, more like a person and not like the soldier that everyone seemed to classify me as.

"Very practical." I replied and I actually imagined Peggy doing that - going through all of the S.H.I.E.L.D protocols and teaching her how to be a spy from the age of 5. I wanted to find out more about Sharon, but didn't know how to. When would I see her and what conversation would I bring up? I wanted to ask her for coffee desperately, but I had seen her a few times since D.C. and they were all professional interactions, nothing that made me find out any more about her. I had looked up her file, not finding a lot of information, especially none that linked her to Peggy, which was now clear from what she had said at the funeral about not wanting the pressure to be as good as her aunt. It mainly talked about the undercover work she had done as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. I tried to ignore the fact that it made me jealous that she had been undercover working with S.H.I.E.L.D agents and made me question whether she genuinely liked me or not, or whether it was just for a mission. I had hoped it was more than just a mission...

When I saw her at the funeral, every single memory of us talking came back to me. We had spoken about ten times in the past and we had little flirty discussions. _Yes, I am an old man, but I can still flirt. It wasn't like I was oblivious to the world. That and Natasha introduced me to it. That was awkward to say the least._ She spoke directly to me for most of the speech, not only conveying through her words, but her eyes, that she was sorry for not telling me about her being an agent and the fact that she was related to Peggy. Me and Peggy kissing wasn't public information, so I guessed that Peggy told her about me, stories about Captain America being passed down from generation to generation.

How could I have thought she was a nurse? The file said that **S** **he would report back to Fury to ensure that Rogers was not a threat to S.H.I.E.L.D. and could be trusted. Over her tenure as his protector, Carter became well acquainted with Rogers, and would talk to him whenever they met, often flirting with Rogers in order to gain his trust.** The last bit I was curious about. Surely, she didn't have to flirt with me to gain my trust. I didn't mind. It actually seemed like the first bit of company that I had had in a while.

"And stylish." she replied with a smirk. I laughed lightly and thought about how the simplest thing she said or did made me smile. Finding out at the funeral that she was related to Peggy made me think about whether Sharon had said anything to Peggy about me. I knew I shouldn't have thought about it but I did. After D.C., I thought about her occasionally, my mind going back to the nurse that wasn't a nurse. Natasha told me to contact her, but I couldn't find her anywhere, her name being lost within the S.H.I.E.L.D files, and it felt inappropriate to ask Fury. So I let her slip away, until I met her at the funeral again. Maria had told me that Sharon had stuck up for me when S.H.I.E.L.D said they were planning on hunting me down, which warmed my heart a little, but also made me wonder whether Maria knew I had a certain feelings towards Sharon.

We were standing by the elevator, both of us looking at each other, and my mind was running out of conversation starters. Her hand were clasping her back as she awkwardly swayed slightly at the fact that neither of us were speaking to each other. We knew each other, but not overly well. I knew about her job though.

"CIA has you stationed over here now?" I asked as soon as we waited for the elevator. She had to go up to reach her floor, but I wanted to carry on our conversation. I loved talking with her when I found stuff to say! It wasn't the fact that I didn't want to go up and stay with her longer, I did, but I didn't want her to get the wrong impression of me. And I wanted to make a good impression for her.

"Berlin, joint terrorism task force." she replied and I nodded quickly, trying to think of something to say in my head that didn't make me sound like an idiot. Gosh, she was beautiful. The light outside the elevator was dark, perhaps a sunset orange, and it lighted her up perfectly. Her golden hair was absolutely beautiful and I wanted nothing more than to reach out and weave my fingers through it. My eyes flickered to her lips in the space of a second, but I found myself more and more drawn to look at them. I forced myself to look into her eyes, which weren't a problem as they were gorgeous, like the rest of her.

"Right. Sounds fun." I said, trying to make myself sound funny. I thought about all the reasons why that wasn't funny. It was to do with terrorism. I had just made a joke about her working in the field of terrorism. I instantly found the joke being very unfunny. My rapid thoughts disappeared when I saw a small smile on her face.

"I know, right?" she said, relaxing me a little. The panic in my mind soon started up again as we had yet again run out of conversation. I looked down at her smile and then back up to her eyes...the one's that were looking directly at me. I was unsure about whether she had seen me watch her smile, but I reassured myself that if she did, she would've thought it was because of her reaction to my attempt at humour.

She continued to look at me and I decided to look at something else. The floor. _Good choice, Rogers._ I nodded my head, thinking about another topic I could ask her about. I felt a little more comfortable about conversation than before, but Stark was right. He had said a couple of months ago that I had no idea how to talk to women and the fact was, I didn't. Flirting with Sharon in D.C. was practically a one-off. I was even surprised at myself for coming up with such a charming line. It was probably the only charming line that I had used in my life - 'A cup of coffee?'. A question with the use of four words to ask someone on a date. I considered that good. Until she rejected me, of course. The 'not too far' reply that she gave made me think that she was interested. I guess S.H.I.E.L.D wanted Sharon to keep me on the hook, which is what she continued to do even as we stood outside the elevator.

"I've been meaning to ask you..." I began, remembering the time that she did spend next to my apartment. I smiled briefly at the memory. I was tempted to ask her out for coffee, but decided against being so upfront. It was scarcely a few hours since the funeral. "When you were spying on me from across the hall-"

"You mean when I was doing my job?" she cut in, trying to make it clear that she wasn't spying. We were both wearing smirks, a smirk that we both tried to hide, but failed to. It amused me to think that she did spy on me though, so I always kept that thought in my head. I even imagined the times that I had sat on my window ledge and pictured her with a pair of binoculars spying on me.

"Did Peggy know?" I asked, wanting to find out whether she genuinely did tell Peggy about me or not. I didn't care about whether she told Peggy about me, but it would've been nice if she did, because I cared about Sharon. A lot more than I should've. I would've been proud to know that Peggy knew, not that anything was going on between the two of us.

She locked eyes with me, almost as if she was trying to figure me out, staring through my eyes and into my brain to see how I felt about her. I wished that she had that interest, even though it was a ridiculous thought. She took a breath and said "She kept so many secrets. I didn't want her to have one from you." She sounded so sincere and it made her seem sweeter than she usually did. I understood why she didn't tell Peggy about me and it made me fall more for her, which was bad, because I knew that I was never going to see her again. I looked at the woman in front of me and felt the trust that I had placed in her. By not telling Peggy, she didn't cause her or me anymore pain. It made me consider whether Sharon really did like me or not. That and the fact that she was still looking at me.

I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to lean in and kiss her and have her kiss me back and have the world go away for a few seconds, all the Avengers, all the people, all the problems, and have a moment of me and her. I knew I couldn't think about her like that, but the more I stared at her, the more I wanted it to happen.

Unexpectedly, the elevator dinged and the spell broke. I was so disappointed and I tried not to let it show on my face, but I don't think I did a good job of it. However, she had turned her face away too, so I'm glad she didn't see my disappointment. She looked back and smiled softly.

"Thanks for walking me back." she said, tilting her head to the side, observing me for some reason. I tried not to keep looking into the gorgeous, brown eyes she had, but they were almost addictive.

"Sure." I said, sighing, and reluctantly looking down at the floor. I felt irritated at myself for not finding her earlier. I wish I had searched through the S.H.I.E.L.D files harder to try and find her or to look through Peggy's family to see her family tree. There were so many things I could've done to get to know Sharon more. I looked up and noticed that she was still looking in my direction, like she was waiting for something...but the lift had already arrived, so what was she waiting for?

"Steve..." a grave voice came from my left and I turned to see Sam standing there, a look of discomfort on his face. I wondered what he was so upset about until he took the both of us back to our hotel suit and showed us the news.

Sharon's phones went off the second we began watching the news report, her bosses and other higher members wanting to have her on the scene with the CIA. "I have to go to work." she said, strictly, and turned, taking a moment to sort out her bag that was sitting on the coffee table.

She walked out the door quickly, flashing me and Sam a sad smile, before exiting the room. "Not even a goodbye to you?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow, and I continued to stare at the closed white door.

"It's not like we are a couple, Sam." He knew about my situation, but didn't bring it up all that often, only asking when he was either drunk, which wasn't very often, or when we were talking about relationship, a topic that was usually introduced by Tony who always wanted to know the gossip of the group.

I turned around and saw a card on the table. I walked over slowly and picked it up, noticing that there was a number and some writing on it. **07593 749200. Text me where we can meet near the explosion. Sharon x**

"Sam, look." he said and quickly handed him the card.

"A kiss?" he asked and I looked at him confused before turning to observe the card again. I was in such a muddle over Bucky that I hadn't even seen the kiss she used at the end of her sign off.

"She probably does it with everyone." I told him, snatching the card out of his hand and picking up my bag to find some undercover clothes for us to wear.

Once we had changed, wearing caps and sunglasses to cover our faces, Sam made his way to a restaurant as I talked on the phone with Natasha, telling her that I was the one that was least likely to die trying to bring in Barnes. I loved Bucky, he was my brother, and I wasn't going to let the police force take him in so easily. He deserved a chance at life just as much as anyone else did.

"She tell you to stay out of it?" Sam asked as I sat down at the bar, trying to look inconspicuous, and I didn't even need to respond to the question. He knew the answer. I had texted Sharon the plan of action and she said she would meet us there soon. "Might have a point."

"He'd do it for me." I told him, hoping that he would see my side of things.

"1945, maybe." he said. I didn't like how Bucky was different. He didn't even recognise the nickname that I had given him since he was about 5 years old, finding his middle name too difficult to pronounce. He would occasionally call me Grant, but it never caught on. "I just want to make sure we consider all our options. The people that shoot at you, usually wind up shooting at me."

My serum allowed me to listen into noises around me and I heard someone walk up from my right side. I could tell it was Sharon by the smell that filled my nostrils as I breathed in when she walked up next to me. "Tips have been pouring in since that footage went public." she began, her spy training coming to use as she continued to look forward, even when I made the stupid mistake of looking at her. Spies were meant to be secretive and never break cover, but I found myself doing exactly that. I was looking right at her, her blonde hair that seemed curlier earlier, now looking straight from having it tied up in the ponytail I noticed her having when she was wearing her CIA jacket. I quickly turned my head back to face the bar, hoping that nobody noticed my slip up.

"Everybody thinks the Winter Soldier goes to their gym. Most of it is noise, except for this." she said, sliding me a file. I moved my coffee cup and made room so I could look at it properly. "My boss expects a briefing, pretty much now, so that's all you're going to get." she added, sounding a little disappointed that she couldn't help me anymore. She had helped me more than enough. She was putting her entire job at risk and I couldn't help but feel guilty for putting her in that position.

"Thank you." I said, hoping that she would understand how much this meant to me, but she carried on talking as if she hadn't heard it.

"And you are going to have to hurry." she warned. "We have orders to shoot on sight." she said, angrily. She sounded like she was ashamed of the orders that she had been given and, to be honest, I would've been too. Knowing that the government weren't even going give Bucky a chance made me even angrier at them. First - the accords, now this. I couldn't let them get their hands on Bucky.

"We'd better get moving, then." Sam said, picking up the piece of cake that he had ordered and making his way out of the bar. I waited a few minutes before walking out with him and rejoining him in a car that we had gotten, deciding not to go back to the hotel in case anybody had seen us there.

We arrived in Bucharest and I tried my best to persuade Bucky to come with me, to be safe. I could tell he wanted to live alone. If he didn't then he would've contacted me. He was a spy and he would've slipped past the radar, making sure that he didn't get caught. I felt a mixture of anger and sadness when I understood how he didn't trust me. When he looked at me, he didn't even recognise me.

After me, Bucky, Sam and T'Challa got into the fight on the road, we were arrested and taken to somewhere in Berlin. I didn't recognise the building that we were taken to, but on the way I saw road signs that I recognised as German and some landmarks that gave me a hint we were transported to Berlin. Me, Sam and T'Challa were taken out of the van and I looked to my side, noticing Sharon standing with a man in a suit that I didn't recognise. I was unsure about how to feel about her, because she could be a double agent helping us...or she could really be on the side of the military.

I looked back to try and find Bucky and saw him being transferred in a metal unit with glass windows, strapped down by his arms, legs and chest against a chair. I wanted to run right over to him and free him from the container they had restrained him in, but I knew I would be put in handcuffs immediately or shot. There were way too many guards around. Turning my head back to Sharon and the suited man, I started to walk towards them, T'Challa and Sam following close behind me.

"What's going to happen to him?" I asked the man, three guards stationed behind him. My eyes briefly flicked to Sharon who was staring straight ahead until the man spoke. I wondered why she hadn't looked at me yet, but decided to put it to the back of my mind, realising that there were bigger priorities.

"Same thing that ought to happen to you." he said. I immediately disliked the man, too stuck up with protocols for his own good. "Psychological evaluation and extradition." The words made me shift uncomfortably, knowing that what they were going to do to Bucky wasn't going to be pretty.

"This is Everett Ross." Sharon introduced and my eyes went back to her face that always seemed to look so beautiful. I wondered whether she ever looked unattractive, because it didn't seem that way. I imagined what it would be like waking up in the morning with Sharon next to me, her hair a little messy, but a sweet smile on her face. I mentally shook myself as I realised that I was not meant to be picturing Sharon in bed whilst we were in a crisis. "Deputy task force commander."

"What about our lawyer?" I asked, directing my gaze at Ross and easing myself out of my distractions.

He gave a smirk and replied "Lawyer, that's funny." I felt my eyes twitch to glare at the stubborn man before realising that I should at least try and be pleasant. My eyes relaxed as he started to speak again. He turned his head sideways, not fully looking at Sharon, but addressing her none the less. "See that their weapons are placed in lock up." he ordered and turned his head back to us. "Oh, we'll write you a receipt."

"I'd better not look out the window and see anyone flying around in that." Sam remarked, following the weapons that were being taken past us, Everett walking beside them. I kept my head forward, not looking at Sharon as we walked down a corridor and into an elevator, no one speaking the entire time. We arrived on what the elevator said was the fifth floor and I noticed that Sharon was moving to walk in the opposite direction to us, most likely to go and secure our weapons, but looked at me for a second before she left. I wanted to talk with her and find out what side she was truly on, but I couldn't as there were eyes and ears everywhere. Someone was bound to hear our conversation and I wouldn't even have the opportunity if I tried.

Everett lead us across a bridge to a very angry looking Tony Stark who was on the phone with someone. I wasn't really listening to what Everett was saying as we crossed the bridge, my mind distant because of my thoughts of Sharon. She was gorgeous, no doubt, but I liked her for more than that. She was smart, passionate and didn't give a damn about what anyone thought about her. She reminded me of Peggy, but she was her own person and I loved her for that. I didn't love Peggy, despite what some people might believe. Sharon was such an incredible woman and there was something about her that completely captivated me.

After arguing with Tony and coming to no agreement with it, me and Sam were confined to the office. The people outside, including Everett Ross, Tony and Natasha were watching the screens outside. I wish I could've fully understood Natasha's need to side with their team, but, unfortunately, I didn't. I heard someone enter the room, but didn't turn around to greet them. "The receipt for your gear." the female voice said and I recognised the voice as Sharon's. I wanted to turn around and talk to her, but I was trying to focus on what the psychologist and Bucky were talking about, not that Bucky was doing much of the talking as far as I could tell. I found it very difficult to lip-read and only picked up a few things. I could see the psychologist say the United Nations sent him, but nothing else. The man sat down on a chair behind a table, but Bucky didn't even move to look at the man. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to figure out how we were going to get out of this mess, but no plans were coming to my mind, so I opened them again and tried to focus.

"Bird suit?" Sam asked, obviously insulted by the name they filed Redwing under. He was very protective of the 'bird'.

"I didn't write it." Sharon replied. There was silence for a few moments and I wondered why she hadn't left yet, not that I wanted her to. Her being in the room eased my mind a little, but I wasn't sure why. She was a comforting presence in the room along with Sam. I heard a beeping noise and an image of Bucky was promptly brought up on the screen, audio included. _I thought I wasn't allow to view the conversation between them?_

I turned round and saw Sharon lock eyes with me before she lowered her gaze to the ground. That was something else I had to add to the list of things she did for me. As I watched Bucky, I continued to wonder what I could do to return the favour of her helping me. "I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

"My name is Bucky." he replied, using the name that I gave him. No one else used that nickname but me. I was glad that he remembered the nickname. It showed how he did still have some ties to me. His face was empty and his eyes were hopeless, but he didn't look tired. I doubted that he had much sleep whilst he was on the run.

As they continued to talk, Bucky not really responding to the man's questions, I turned to the table and looked at the images that were given to us. They were of Bucky when he supposedly bomb the UN building. His face was angled so that the camera would be able to see him, his face on full show. It brought a question to my mind. "Why would he let himself be seen?" I muttered to myself, but the two of them picked up on it.

"What do you mean?" Sharon asked, coming round to look at the photographs that I had. She placed her hand on the table and leaned on it to get a better view of the images. As she leaned forward, her hair came down over the side of her face that I couldn't see. I tried not to look at her, but I couldn't help it. I didn't care about how someone looked, but she was beautiful, her face radiant and healthy without the need of make-up. I didn't if she did wear make-up, but I preferred natural girls. She bit her lip in thought and I tried not to think about how close our hands were, a few centimetres away from each other. I looked over at Sam who was smirking at me. He had obviously noticed me staring at her and I tried to fight down the blush that was forming on my face, but failed to do so. Instead of getting over-whelmed by it, I got back to the issue at hand.

"Buck is a trained assassin, designed to blend in and avoid being seen by cameras. It's basic training of how not to get caught. If he didn't want the attention then he wouldn't have gotten caught."

"Maybe he slipped up?" Sam suggested.

I shook my head. "After all those years of training, he wouldn't."

"So why would he decide to get caught now? He could've contacted you without putting himself on a camera, so it can't be that."

"Why would the task force release this photo to begin with?" I asked them and Sharon angled her head to look at me. I instinctively focused solely on her eyes, the hypnotising orbs wanting to force me closer to her face, but I resisted and looked back at the photos on the table, trying not to get too drawn in.

"Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?" Sharon said and I nodded.

"Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding." I said, coming to a conclusion about what really happened when the UN building got bombed. "Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. You got 7 billion people looking for the Winter Soldier."

"So you're saying someone framed him to find him." Sharon replied, following along to what I was saying. She was always so inquisitive.

"Steve, we looked for the guy for 2 years and found nothing." Sam argued.

"We didn't bomb the UN. That turns a lot of heads." I replied, looking back at the photographs on the table and sighing to myself at the situation we had gotten ourselves into.

"So? That doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him the guarantees that we would." Sharon said, eyes looking at me at the last sentence. She furrowed her eyebrows for a moment and looked off into the distance somewhere, trying to gather the thoughts in her head. I was worried about why she was so concerned until her eyes turned to the man interrogating Bucky.

"Yeah." I said, distant in thought, as I looked at the back of the man's head who was talking with Bucky. "Who is that man?" I asked Sharon turning back to see her more confused than ever. "The one interrogating Bucky. Do you know him?"

"I've never seen him before. He was sent from the UN." she replied and I turned my head back to the screen.

"What would someone need to do to get to Bucky now that he was here?" I asked her, hoping that she would catch on and she immediately did, picking up her tablet and walking beside me, fingers tapping at the screen.

"They would have to be on the inside." she replied as she flicked through the people that had come through the building. Without warning, everything went dark, the emergency lights switched on and the tablet went dead.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, looking around and Sharon looked back at him, coming to the table again.

"I don't know. The tablets down, because it runs on the building's power, so that we don't have to keep everything charged." she looked up at me as Everett Ross shouted "Someone get me eyes on Barnes."

"Sub-level 5. East wing." she informed me and I nodded, immediately taking off with Sam to find Bucky, leaving Sharon behind in the office. I felt bad about leaving her there, but at least I knew she would be safe and out of Bucky's way. I ran down the corridors, searching for a sign that said sub-level 5. I looked around, my eyes darting to try and find some sort of sign that told us where to go.

"Steve!" Sam shouted from behind me and I turned around, realising that he had stopped at a map. "East Wing. Through here." he said, quickly opening a door next to him and I quickly caught up, running down the corridors until we stumbled onto a room full of bodies on the floor. I looked back at Sam who came to the same conclusion that I did - Bucky had escaped. We continued to run through the room, being careful not to step on the bodies that were carelessly lying on the floor. Red lights were flashing around and I searched round for any signs of life. Looking down to the end of the room, I saw the psychologist lying on the floor in front of the container that used to have Bucky in it, it's door now ripped off it's hinges and lying on the floor next to the man.

"Get up." I ordered, but the man didn't seem to move, staring at me gravely. Becoming impatient, I grabbed his shirt and pushed him up against the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?" I asked, surprisingly myself with the threatening voice I had now gained. I didn't realise I could get that angry.

"To see an empire fall." he answered vaguely, sounding a little crazy. I heard large smashing sound and quickly spun my head round to see that Bucky was attacking Sam. After chucking Sam against the container that he was detained in, he begun his attack on me, swiping his arm to try and punch me. We battled through a set of empty doorways until we reached an elevator that he punched me through.

I fell down the elevator and plummeted to the floor, landing on my shoulder. _Ow._ Realising that I couldn't give up and go to medical, I got up, pushing my fists and feet into the ground and using all the strength I had to get up as quickly as possible, and began to climb the elevator shaft. God knows what Bucky was doing. I struggled slightly, my shoulder feeling dislocated, but managed to make my way to the top. As I pushed myself onto the floor, escaping the elevator shaft, I stood and up and took a few quick breaths before violently shoving my left shoulder back into place. I screamed in agony, but shook off my pain, focusing on the fact that my best friend might be killing people.

I walked back to the bridge, trying to get a better view on everything, I saw people flooding out of the building. From my position, I could see Bucky fighting three agents, Tony now sneaking up behind him as Sharon and Natasha waited at the other end of the room. I guessed that they were waiting to see if Tony needed back up. They couldn't all attack him at the same time. I sprinted back over the bridge and ran to go and find them. When I arrived at the eating area, I saw Natasha tending to Sharon who was lying on the floor. I ran up to them and slid beside Sharon.

I put a hand to her face and stroked it softly as she started to come round from her unconscious. "Sharon..." I whispered, glad that she was alive. I didn't feel any anger towards Bucky, only HYDRA who had turned him into the Winter Soldier.

"Steve..." she gasped and I smiled at her softly, knowing that she was going to be okay. She didn't take her eyes off me and I wondered whether she realised that Natasha was even there. I was curious as to why I felt so affectionate towards her and cared about her so much, but I couldn't explain it. It was like we had some unseen connection, a tether, that was trying to pull us together. I saw her wince and tried to soothe her as I stroked her cheek. She smiled at me, a smile that I hadn't quite seen before. Her other smiles seemed to professional, but this one seemed genuine. Her face dropped as she looked at Natasha and then back to me, realising where she was and what was happening. "Get Barnes." she said, her voice sounding breathless, and I hesitated to leave her before she gave me a stern look and I nodded. I quickly turned to Natasha. "Look after her." I said and she nodded before I quickly ran after Bucky who I saw had headed up a flight of stairs. He was headed for the rooftop.

Bucky was taking off on a helicopter, but I quickly jumped up, reaching for the bottom bar of it. I pulled him down, trying to stop him from leaving, but he was persistent. It got to the point where I was hanging onto the edge of the helicopter pad, preventing him from leaving the side. I ignored the pain that my shoulder was giving from recently being put back into place and grit my teeth as I kept the helicopter from leaving. Bucky changed the direction of the helicopter and sent it in my direction. Quickly, I jumped out of the way to stop myself from being crushed between the pad by the helicopter. The blade was spinning frantically around, hitting the concrete helipad and chipping off in all different directions, one of the pieces scratching my right arm as I frantically dodged to avoid the incoming blades. I saw the rotor of the helicopter swing round and I panicked, quickly ducking at the last minute to stop myself from being hit.

The cockpit was to the left of me and, after getting my bearings, I turned round to try and see if Bucky was okay. Suddenly, an metal arm came out and grabbed me tightly by the throat. I gasped for air, but found none going into my lungs. I gritted my teeth against his tight grip and opened my eyes, hoping that he would find some understanding and be Bucky for a few minutes. That's all I wanted. I wanted my friends back for only a few minutes, but no. I couldn't have that. The helicopter started to fall backwards and I pushed against it, trying to make Bucky's hand remove from mine, but he was determined to make it stay.

I found myself falling with the helicopter into the river below us, the fall reminding me of when Bucky and I were fighting in DC and I fell into the water. I shut my eyes as the cold water took over my body and immediately searched for Bucky, not thinking about what consequences we would face when we would get out. I grabbed him from the cockpit and found his body to be unconscious. I gathered that his head must've hit the front of the helicopter and, in reality, I was glad he was this way. I didn't want to deal with him fighting me while we escaped. I dragged him through the water for a while, the super soldier serum allowing me to hold my breath longer than others, until we emerged about 200 or 300 metres away from the site to avoid people following us, making sure to keep his mouth shut to avoid him drowning.

After Sam met me and helped me pull Bucky out of the water, we made our way to an abandoned building that wasn't too far from the location we were kept at in Berlin. We strapped Bucky's arm to a clamp that we had found, knowing that it wouldn't hurt him too much as the arm was made of metal, and waited for him to emerge from his sleeping state. Me and Sam were standing by a crack in the building work that gave us little room to see, but worked as a look-out. "Did you hear from Sharon?" I asked him, knowing that he had an encrypted phone that we had stored her number from the hotel on, and he nodded. I was anxious as to whether she was okay after being attacked by Bucky. I knew I shouldn't have been that compassionate towards someone I hadn't known for that long, but the tether was getter stronger. My mother would be turning in her grave for me thinking about waking up next to Sharon like I had earlier that day. _God dammit, Steve._ I needed to read up on how to be a gentleman like I used to be.

"She's got our gear and is meeting us in a couple of hours." he replied and I nodded. He looked down at the phone in his hand before slipping it into his pocket. "If your worried about her injuries, she told me to tell you that she's fine and that you shouldn't worry like you always do." he added and I smirked at him. "Are you two going out?"

"No, no." I denied, shaking my head, a little heat coming up to my cheeks. I wish she was my girlfriend and I guessed that she liked me too, but I saw her as a woman who didn't have time for relationships. "I don't think she does that sort of thing."

"You don't know until you try buddy." he replied and clapped me on the shoulder before leaving me to see Barnes. He was awfully unassertive about Barnes, worried that he was going to betray us any second and be a secret agent for HYDRA. I looked out of the window, observing the helicopter that wasn't that far away until Sam called me over.

Finding out that Bucky wasn't the only Winter Soldier was a big shock, but to find out that the 'psychologist' was headed there was something that seriously set my nerves on edge. We decided to move knowing that Bucky wasn't going to hurt us. It was good that I had my friend back. We stole a blue Beetle that wasn't exactly fashionable, but I didn't think that anyone would look for us in it. Sam informed me that Clint had texted him asking him where to meet him, Wanda and another man called Scott Lang. Sam had already told me about Scott and how he was the one who beat Falcon back last year. The memory of it made me smile slightly as we drove and I could've sworn I saw Bucky smile also as I reminded Sam of the event. We decided to meet Sharon underneath a bridge in Schkeuditz first and get the suits from her before going to meet the others at Flughafen Leipzig/Halle airport.

We arrived underneath the bridge and I saw Sharon already getting out of her car. I got out of the driver's seat and made my way towards her, trying not to focus on how her hair framed her face perfectly, allowing her brown eyes to stand out against her blonde hair. "I'm not sure you understand the concept of a getaway car." she said, amused. I smiled at her as we met at the boot of her car.

"It's low profile." I replied, which made her smirk as she hooked her fingers around the clip that opened the trunk. I quickly checked over her body as she walked, not because I wanted to look at her, but I needed to make sure that she wasn't injured drastically during the fight with Bucky.

"Good, because this stuff tends to draw a crowd." she said, lifting up the boot to reveal my suit with the shield and Sam's wings and Redwing. I looked up at her and tried to look anyway, but then realised that I didn't want to. I couldn't stop myself from staring at her as I thanked her.

"I owe you again." I told her and she lifted her hand before tapping the boot lid.

"Keeping a list." she replied, smirking as her eyes flitted up to mine, her head angled to the side. It was like she was in the same position as me, wanting to stare, but not wanting to get caught doing so. She turned her head to the car, looking at two of my best friends, the only two I had really. Her blonde hair sheltered the side of her face and I almost reached out and tuck her hair behind her ear to get a clearer view at her before forcing my hand to stay by my side.

Fortunately, she turned back so I didn't embarrass myself by moving her hair. "You know, he kinda tried to kill me." she said, looking at me unimpressed. I looked at Bucky who didn't seem to be talking with Sam. They didn't get along very well.

"Sorry." I said, turning my head back to look at her. She wasn't angry, but she looked sympathetic. She looked as if she felt sorry that I had to go through trying to get everyone to see my side of the story. At least she was on my side. "I'll put it on the list." I added, drawing a smile from her.

She turned to look at the equipment in the boot and it felt like we had nothing to talk about again, the same feeling I had when we were talking outside the elevator before the explosion happened. I followed her gaze and looked at the gear too.

"They're going to come looking for you." I said, not as a reminder, but as a warning to be careful. I didn't want Sharon getting hurt because of what I had done.

"I know." she replied, nodding to herself, before locking my eyes with hers again. It was as if I were under her spell or something. I hadn't felt this way about anyone and I wanted to tell her, so badly, but I had no idea how to.

"Thank you, Sharon." I said, wanting to say more, needing to say more...but I couldn't seem to find the words. I didn't want to sound stupid and it didn't feel like the right time to ask for coffee, so I stood there for a few seconds looking at her, hoping that she would see what she was doing meant a lot of me. She smiled and nodded her head at my manners, but didn't move from her spot either, her eyes not breaking away. I felt my heart start to beat up in my chest at the thought of kissing her and thought about how wrong it would be to kiss her in that moment. But then I thought about how right it would be.

I hesitated before deciding to roll with my gut feeling as I looked to her lips and then back up to her face. My lips parted as I felt a small breath escape them and I slowly stepped forward. Her hand came up and she placed it on the back of my head, making me feel more confident about going to kiss her. I gently leaned forward and stopped for only a moment before I felt her warm breath travel over my lips and I couldn't take it. I took her lips with mine and held back a moan of how good it felt to finally be kissing her, my eyes closing as I let the feeling take over me. Her lips were warm and slightly wet, making the cold weather feel even colder, but that made her lips the only thing I wanted to be near. It felt almost too incredible to feel her top lip in between mine, her bottom one trapping my one. I slid my hand around her back to pull her closer and spread my palm to pull her closer to me.

I hadn't been kissed for a while, ever since Natasha kissed me undercover in DC, but I don't remember it being so perfect. It were as if her lips were made for mine, locking in just the right place. Her cold hand softly stroked the short hairs on the back of my head and it made me eager to kiss her more, shivers of pleasure rippling through me. I tightened my hand's grip on her coat from the tension that I was powering through me. All worries of the accords were out of my mind as I only felt one thing - desire. I felt our kiss become more passionate and heated, our lips pressing together tightly from sheer need of wanting each other. I knew we couldn't stay like that forever though, as much as I wanted to do so. I slowly released the firm grip I had of her lips and she pulled away from mine. We kept our heads together for a few seconds, her hand still on the back of my head as our noses stayed side by side.

I looked down at the ground and pulled away shyly, hoping that I didn't overstep the line. A light laugh escaped from me at the smile that I saw form on her lips. "That was..." she began and I chose to finish the sentence for her.

"Late?" I offered and she laughed, which gave me a little relief that she wasn't mad at me.

"Damn right." she replied, smiling, her hand settling on my shoulder as my hands didn't move from her hip. I didn't want her to leave. I wish she could've stayed, but, of course, I didn't want her in danger. Her smile was so beautiful and I looked down at it, the feeling of wanting to kiss her coming up again. She closed her eyes and I felt the warmth of her hand spreading from my shoulder all around my body, especially my heart that wouldn't stop beating at what seemed like an abnormal rate.

She dipped her head as she pulled her hands away from me, sliding her hand down my arm before keeping it by her side. "I should go." she whispered and I nodded, replying with a simple "Okay". I noticed her look down at my lips and then back up to my eyes again as she smiled. _I could get used to that smile_ I thought to myself as she walked round me to get to the driver's seat. I smirked to myself, shoving my hands in my pockets, as I looked back at the car that I forgot Sam and Bucky were sitting in. Sam and him were both smirking, Sam nodding his head from the fact that I had a girl. I think Bucky understood how much more it meant to me, even though his expression was similar to Sam's. He knew that getting a girl was impossible for me back in Brooklyn until I got the serum and understood that I wouldn't date just anyone, so he was the proudest...excluding me. I looked at the pair desperately and sighed.

"Sam?" I called out and he nodded, getting out of the car to help me with the gear, a smile still on his face.

"Don't forget that I was the one who told you to make a move." Sam teased, picking Redwing carefully and checking over all of it's compartments.

"Shut up..." I tossed back and picked up the shield, sliding it carefully onto my forearm and smiling at the feeling.

"So, was the kiss good?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes at his antics and continued to look through my stuff. He looked at me innocently. "What it's just a question..." he argued and I laughed at his interest in my love life. First Romanoff, then him. Even Tony had tried to set me up on a few dates, which I immediately said no to. I knew that Sam wouldn't drop the subject, so I answered him honestly.

"If you really want to know, yes. It was amazing." I replied, trying not to smile as I picked up my uniform and checked it over.

"Are you gonna ask her out?" Sam asked and I was about to tell him to stop, but someone else butted it.

"You guys know I can hear you, right?" Sharon asked from the car and I hadn't even realised that the window was open. I suddenly felt myself going very red and Sam chuckled at me. I didn't understand why I was so embarrassed, but I guess I was still unsure about whether she had wanted to date me.

"Shit." I hissed as we walked back to the Beetle, me and Sam both carrying all the equipment we needed.

"Language." Sam replied, his smile practically beaming off his face from me finally getting a girl, if I even did have one, and referencing to something that he wasn't even there for.

"I didn't even know you knew about that." I replied and I was determined to find out, after the fight, who it was that told Sam about it. Sam got into the car after we placed the suits in the back, next to Bucky, but I decided to go and see Sharon off. I shut the boot of her car and walked up to where she was sitting in the driver's seat. She had her hands on the wheel and looked up at me when I came round to her car door, which did in fact have the window rolled down. I felt my cheeks flush again when I remembered that she had heard us talking.

"I'm sorry about what I was talking about with Sam. I didn't...realise that you had heard us." I said, looking down at the ground as I rested my hand against the bottom of the door frame. Feeling a soft set of fingertips run over my knuckles, I lifted my head and saw her smiling softly at me. I didn't know what she was doing when she took her hand in my own and shut her eyes. She placed my hand against her cheek and nestled into it. I couldn't help, but find what she was doing adorable. That adorable quality suddenly went when she started to kiss the bottom of my palm and a huge amount of lust flooded through me, something that I had never felt before. I breathed in shakily as she kissed against my wrist, her warm breath soothing over my arm. I managed to keep my body stationary as I knew the other guys were watching, but I could feel my chest rising and falling.

She stopped, her lips teasing me as they grazed lightly my skin, and her eyes stared up at me. I could see the passion in her eyes and if it weren't for the mission I would've spent the whole day doing whatever she wanted. I stopped myself thinking that as I realised how crazy I was being. Obviously, I wouldn't go home and have sex with her, even if she wanted to, but I wouldn't have minded spending hours and hours kissing her. "For the record..." she said, pressing one last kiss above my raging pulse point on my wrist. I think she noticed the affect that she was having on my heart as she smiled after kissing my wrist. "I thought the kiss was 'amazing' too." she said, widening her eyes slightly at the word 'amazing'. She took my hand in her own, her lips moving away from the pulse point to allow her fingers to link with mine.

"After this, I'll kiss you as much as you want..." I replied, suddenly feeling really confident with myself. I saw her lips part for a second, her eyes not blinking at my words, before she cleared her throat and squeezed my hand. I smiled at the effect that I had on her, not realising before that I actually made her feel like this. She squeezed my hand tightly and I saw something change in her eyes. She closed them and slowly kissed the back of my hand, not with passion, but with a tender touch. She took my hand away from her lips, but didn't let go. Looking up at me, she smiled softly.

"Be careful, okay?" she said, her voice sounding incredibly caring and worried. "I don't want you getting hurt, because I really want to figure out...whatever this is." she added and I nodded. Me and Sharon hadn't had the chance to talk to each other properly yet and I desperately wanted to. I thought I didn't want that life, but I knew I had to settle down at some point. I thought that Sharon might be that chance, not that I would tell her that this early in the relationship.

"Yeah, me too." I replied and leaned down to level with her face. "I promise I'll come back in one piece." I really hoped that I did, because I had only just found Bucky and discovered a new relationship with Sharon.

"I'm serious." she said, a half-smile forming on her lips. "If there is a single scratch-"

"Well, that's impossible and you know it." I replied and she shook her head as she laughed. The laughter died down and she looked at the floor.

"Just...don't get hurt too badly, okay? I wanted to take you up on that coffee offer." she said and smiled sweetly at me. I loved how she was worried, but I didn't want her to. I was also surprised that she also remembered the coffee I offered back in DC. I leaned forward into the car and gave her a soft, long kiss right on the lips that hopefully showed how much I cared about her too.

I pulled away, not wanting to stay there too long as I knew I would end up not wanting to leave. "I'm not missing that." I replied with a smile and held her hands as I stood, my eyes never leaving hers. "I'll ring you when it's safe to meet you. Have you got a place to stay?"

"There's a hotel down the road that I'm staying in." she told me.

I furrowed my eyebrows. The CIA were looking for her. Surely, she would get caught from name recognition. "What about the CIA?"

She smirked, seeing amused with what I was saying. "I'm from the CIA. I've got a red wig, new clothes, fake tattoos and a new fake passport in the back of the car." I almost laughed at how over-prepared she was, but ended up smiling and squeezing her hands. Her hands were warm and soft, which made me not want to leave.

"If anything happens-"

"I know." she replied, smiling at my worried state. "I'll text you and find a way out where I end up safe."

"We'll ring you when everything is over so we can find a place to meet." I told her and she nodded. I looked at her for a few more minutes, our hands still linked with each others and our eyes buried deep as we stared at each other. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to get in the car and drive into the distance like I had seen in so many of the movies. I wanted to-BEEP!

"Dude, I'm sorry. But watching you two is gonna make me throw up and we've gotta go and meet Clint. Hurry the hell up!" Sam shouted and then ducked back into the car again. I looked back at Sharon and she shrugged, a sad look on her face. She sighed and pursed her lips together.

"I'll see you later, Steve." she said, quietly, and I squeezed her hands for the last time before letting go, making my whole body feel a little colder.

"See you later, Sharon." I replied and stepped back. She looked sideways at me and smiled softly before switching her head to the road, starting the car and driving off into the distance. It was like the movies, but I wasn't in the car with her, which made me regret not finding her after DC. There could've been so much time we made up. However, that made me want to succeed in the mission even more than before.

When I got back to the car, I climbed into the driver's seat and was about to start it when I felt the boy's eyes on me. "No, we are not dating." I said to them, knowing that that was the answer to the question they wanted.

"Damn it." Sam replied and hit his hand lightly against the dashboard. "You'd better ask her out after all this." he added and I rolled my eyes before starting the car. Bucky hadn't said anything yet and I wondered what his take on her was, but I would ask him later as we had more important things to deal with.

Me, Clint, Scott, Sam, Bucky and Wanda ended up fighting against Tony's 'team', which I didn't want to happen, but I knew it was inevitable. Me and Bucky got on the helicarrier, Natasha revealing that she was on our side, and headed for Siberia, the location that Bucky was kept as when he was the Winter Soldier. We had to make sure that we got there before the 'psychologist' did. We were flying over Russia as we made our way to the coordinates when Bucky came over and stood by the pilot station.

"Who's the dame?" Bucky asked after we finished talking about how long on the flight we had left. I could see parts of the old Bucky coming back, but not all of them. I turned my head to look at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You want to know about Sharon?" I asked, quite surprised that he would be like Sam in that aspect.

"Not interested in the way your other friend is, but..." he said, shaking his head and looking towards the ground. I could see the regret in his eyes and wondered why he looked so damaged. "I hurt her." he said, his eyes not moving from the ground. There were a few seconds of silence and I turned my head to look at him.

"What you did, all those years...it wasn't you." I told him, trying to get through to him that it wasn't his fault. "You didn't have a choice."

"I know." he admitted. "But I did it." he said and looked down at the floor. His deep, regretful voice made me feel disappointed that he had so much guilt building up inside of him. "Don't sigh at me Rogers." he said, which made me roll my eyes at him and laugh. It was comments like that which made me think that the real Bucky was slowly coming back. Of course, we could have a conversation with him and he would still be Bucky without the brainwashing, but I always hoped that things would return to normal.

We settled into a comfortable silence, staring out at the route ahead, before I remembered what he had asked me about. "Sharon Carter."

"As in...relative to Peggy?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Great-niece to her." I answered and a smile started on his face. His eyes froze for a second and I guessed that he was remembering the memories of her. He blinked a couple of times and looked out of the window again. I had noticed him doing that whenever he would remember something.

"What's Sharon like?" Bucky asked, leaning against a section of the dash.

"If you couldn't tell already, she's gorgeous." I said, sounding a little giddier about it than I should've. "She's so intelligent and courageous and always wants to do what's right instead of following protocol all the time. She also really funny, but in all the right way. Not immature, but not too serious either. Sharon is...is..." I couldn't think of the word.

"The female version of you?" Bucky suggested. I turned to him and stared for a moment. Was I really that similar to Sharon? I hadn't really thought about it like that before. When we arrived at the facility, we took our weapons and walked to the door that was opening.

"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?" I asked, the cold weather making me think back to it. I surprised myself by not thinking of being plunged into the ocean like I usually did when it was cold.

Bucky turned to me and furrowed his eyebrows, not in confusion, but in recognition. We talked about the past a little longer before we entered the compound. We travelled down the floors by an elevator, getting lower and lower into the ice. Meeting Tony was a surprised, but I was glad to see him again.

"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep." a man's voice said over the intercom. I recognised the voice as the man who interrogated Barnes. After finding out that the man was Sokovian and that his children and wife had died, I felt sympathy towards the man. He had lost everything and I felt bad that I couldn't help him.

A video played switched on an read 16 December 1991 in Russian. Bucky was still half way across the room, but Tony was a little closer, curiously wondering what I was staring at. "An empire toppled by it's enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within...that's dead. Forever."

Footage started to play of a road and Tony said he recognised the road before asking the 'psychologist' what it was. He didn't answer, just letting Tony watch the footage. It didn't take long for both of us to realise that it was a video of his parents being killed by the Winter Soldier.

 _"Sergeant Barnes..."_ Tony's father said as he was held up by his hair.

 _"Howard."_ Tony's mother whimpered from where she was sitting in the car. I saw Tony looked sternly up at Bucky before returning his eyes to the footage. After killing Howard and dumping him back in the car, the Winter Soldier moved onto Tony's mother. I knew Tony didn't like his mother and I could tell that he was being affected more by his mother's death than his father's.

The footage stopped and Tony immediately jumped towards Bucky, probably wanting to tear him apart. "Tony..." I warned him and he slowly turned his head to look at me.

"Did you know?" he asked and I looked into his eyes, desperately wanting to tell him the truth.

"I didn't know it was him." I lied.

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers! Did you know?" he asked again and I couldn't lie to the man.

"Yes." I admitted and Tony immediately shoved me away from him.

He immediately began to attack me and Bucky, sending explosives off that tore up the building, pieces of the building falling down all around us. I tried to explain that it wasn't Bucky's fault and that he was being controlled by HYDRA, but Tony wasn't having any of it, shooting beams of light at us as we battled up and down the stairs that lead to the exit at the top. As soon as Tony shot the lid of the exit and it came down, I knew that we weren't getting out of there without a full-on fight.

Tony grabbed Bucky around his neck and gritted his teeth as he asked "Do you even remember them?"

"I remember all of them." Bucky answered.

We ended up fighting in an area that had a view of the mountains, but I didn't have time to look. Tony was standing at a beam above me and I told him that this wasn't going to change what happened.

Even from behind the Iron Man suit, I could see the grief of his face. "I don't care. He killed my mum." he replied before he started fighting me. After me an Tony fought, Bucky joined me with my shield and Tony shot his arm off. I powered on, feeling nothing but rage towards the man that had harmed my best friend.

After fighting for five minutes, I over-powered him, only just, and began hitting him as hard as I could in the metal face he wore to protect himself. I kept punching and punching, my anger raging through me as I fought. I picked up the shield and began hitting his arc reactor with it, not thinking about the fact that I could kill him if I hit him too hard or at his neck.

I hit him twice in the face, dismantling his mask, and then lifted up my shield to hit him in the face again, which would definitely kill him. Suddenly, an image of Sharon popped into my head. I thought about how much worse this would get if I killed Tony rather than sending him the message that he needed to stop. If I killed Tony, then me and Sharon may not be together if I kill him. I realised that what I was doing, attacking one of my closest friends, was the wrong choice, so instead of slicing his head off with the shield, I planted it firmly into the arc reactor, causing it to shatter, but not enough to kill him. I was done with fighting him. I couldn't keep going like this and still be Captain America, so I left Tony with the shield, hoping that he would be able to put it to better use somehow.

After reaching the surface again, we saw T'Challa and he offered us a place at his home in Wakanda, saying that he could help Bucky transition back into his real life stably. We settled in on the plane and T'Challa said he would fly us to his home. I made sure that Bucky was settled in a room to rest alone before going into a different private one.

Taking out the phone out that Sam had given me before the airport fight had started, I absentmindedly tapped my side, hoping that nothing had happened while I had been fighting. I searched through the contacts to find Sharon's name, pressed the number and called her, quickly bringing the phone up to my ear, eager to speak to her. After it rang out a couple of times, I was worried that something was wrong, but thankfully she picked up after the third ring. _"Hello?"_ Her voice sounded a little quieter than it had the last time I had spoken to her, but I didn't say anything about it. The panic that I had slowly diffused from my chest after I heard her voice.

"Hey..." I said, happy to hear her voice on the other side of the line. I was worried that the CIA was going to catch her, but, thankfully, that wasn't the case.

 _"Are you okay? Is it over?"_ she asked and I nodded, even though she couldn't see me. The energy that she usually had in the voice returned as soon after I spoke and I smiled to myself at the thought of her being happier after hearing my voice. I was certainly relieved to hear her voice. The dangers of her being captured and hurt played over and over again in my mind, which made me more motivated to stop HYDRA and get back to her as quickly as I could.

"Yeah, it's all done. We're going to Wakanda to tend to Bucky and drop off Wakanda and then I will fly back to you." Flying back to Sharon was one of my main priorities, after Bucky's safety, but I think she understood that. She didn't try to attack Bucky when he was sitting in the car with Sam when we had met up earlier, so I guessed that she would try and get along with him if he came back to life.

 _"Good."_ she replied and I heard a breath of relief escape from her lips. _"But there's something else."_

"What is it?" I asked, feeling very worried that she was going to give me bad news. The 'something else' stayed with me for a few seconds as she was building up the courage to answer me.

 _"The other members of our 'team' have been taken to a prison in the middle of the ocean. It's called the RAFT."_ I heard the name mentioned by Fury, at least I thought it was Fury, but that didn't matter as I failed to remember how to get into the facility. I tried to ignore the fact that it was 'in the middle of the ocean'. I didn't expect them to be in prison either. I thought Tony would've had some say about where the Avengers were stationed.

"Easy to infiltrate?" I asked. I really regretted leaving my at the airport to get taken.

 _"Not exactly, but if we have the right strategy we could do so. I'm thinking of a plan as we speak."_ she said, determination in her voice. I smiled at the readiness she had to take on any problem that was thrown at her. _"I'm guessing Barnes isn't coming back?"_

I closed my eyes and sighed, putting the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and my thumb. "He said it's for the best for him to go back under the ice."

 _"Steve, I'm so sorry."_ she replied, her tone sounding sincere and caring. Sharon understood my motivations and the circumstances that affected my decision to go against the accords. I thought she would've switched sides and gone with Tony, but she went with my 'team' instead, not that I would've allowed her to fight anyway. I cared about her a lot and she wasn't matched. _"I wish there was a way to make him better."_

"T'Challa assured me that his people would try and find a solution, so hopefully, one day, he'll come back and he'll be back to his normal self." I said with hope. I had lost Peggy, everyone. Bucky was my last tie to the past. Also, I doubted that I would ever have a friend who was so close to me.

 _"I'm glad T'Challa is doing so. Are you okay though?"_ she asked, asking the question with urgency in her tone. My heart fluttered in my chest at her concern and I tried to keep the smile down on my face. I didn't want her to worry too much about me.

"I'm fine." I replied and I could almost see her intense glare that suggested that I was lying.

 _"The truth, please?"_ she said and I sighed, rubbing a hand over my tired face. My hands were rough, marks on my fingers from where I got cut trying to climb out of the base in Siberia. Some of the cuts were from Tony's suit - his armour was surprisingly sharp. My suit had blood across it where I had been hit at my torso and I tried not to think about it as I didn't really know how to treat it.

"Tony got quite a few hits in, but I got a few hits in too." I told her and she sighed. I couldn't tell whether she was angry or worried or cross.

 _"I believe you, but I want evidence that you're okay."_ she said and her concerned nature made me smile.

"I'll be back soon." I assured her, sitting down on the bed that was in the private room.

 _"I will text you the address of the hotel that I'm staying at. Remember to dress differently."_ she replied and I nodded to myself again as I threw myself back against the bed.

"Alright." I replied. I wanted to tell her something else. Not that I loved her or anything, but something more than that. I felt like the words were on the tip of my tongue, but I didn't have the courage to say anything. We hadn't decided on being in a relationship, but we hadn't decided on being single. We were going to go for coffee sometime or another, but I was unsure what that meant. Things had changed since 1945. "I'll see you there, then." I added, not really knowing what to say to the woman.

 _"Okay…"_ she replied and I heard breathe out before the noise was gone, replaced with a beeping sound that had indicated that she had hung up. I sighed and pulled the phone away from my ear, locking it. I clicked on the circle at the bottom and the screen displayed the time, along with a photo of Sam as the Falcon that I rolled my eyes at. Sam was arrogant, but a really funny character that complimented his arrogance.

When we landed in Wakanda, Bucky was transferred to a waiting room as they prepared the procedure for him to go under again. "Take care of her." he said, looking up from where he was sitting to see me under his head of hair. I knew that he was talking about Sharon and nodded.

"Of course. When you wake up, we're finding you a dame." I replied and he smirked, shaking his head.

"No need to find them, they're lining up for me." he said, which made me laugh. Bucky wasn't back to his usual self, but he definitely seemed to be more interactive and more like himself. The problems in his head were going to be solved and when they are fixed, I would be there.

Bucky was put under ice and stood next to him, watching the glass around him freeze up. I didn't like seeing him going under again after only just meeting him again after two years, but I knew it was for the best. I spoke with T'Challa about how we were going to handle Barnes, setting up times that I could visit him. I was going to stay at Wakanda, but I needed to go and pick up Sharon first. That thought was focused in my mind, so I made quick work of Bucky's schedule in order for me to leave as soon as I could to pick her up.

I got into the jet, put on the cloaking device and set my course to Schkeuditz, where Sharon was located. She had texted me the name of the hotel and I told her I was on my way. For a while, I left the plane in auto-mode as I went to get changed. I peeled off the Captain America suit that so tightly clung to me and held it in my hands. This suit had so much meaning and I had destroyed it in the past week, but I was fighting for what I felt was right, so in a way...I hadn't destroyed it's meaning, but maintained it. I smoothed my fingers over the material and put it to one side as I tended to my wound, using some bandages to wrap around it after I had used water to clean it. It was still painful and sensitive, but I ignored the pain as I got ready.

I arrived at the hotel, the invisible helicarrier parked round the corner, out of people's way. I had a tracker on the phone that only I could use, so no one could trace or find it. I was wearing a pair of brown jeans, a black shirt and a blue waterproof jacket, one that I didn't recognise. I was wearing a pair of sneakers and a cap that covered most of my hair that I had now temporarily died brown. I was carrying a suitcase that contained hardly anything. One thing it did contain was a letter to Tony that I had written on the way. I was hoping that when he read it he would understand my side of things.

I pulled out my phone and told the woman at the desk that I was going to see the woman in room 35. She called the room and nodded when Sharon had told the receptionist that I could go up to her. Quickly, but not conspicuously, I made my way up the stairs to see her. My heart was beating incredibly fast and I knew it wasn't the work of the stairs I had just come up of. When I reached the third floor, I followed the sign that said 30-38.

Quickly, I raced up to her door, eager to see her, but as soon as I reached door number 35, I couldn't bring myself to knock on it. _What would I say to her? How would I act? Would I act as a a friend or more than that or is there an in between that no one has told me about?_ I stood outside the room, hand hesitating to reach up to the door and knock on it. I wondered how I would start and what I would say. Deciding that I would tell her about the mission first, I lifted my hand up to knock on the door, but found it opening as soon as I was about to push it forward.

She was standing there, beautiful as ever, but her features weren't the same. The curly blonde locks of her hair were replaced with red straight hair that reached her collarbones. She was wearing a set of Docs Martins and mostly black clothing that was becoming a new fashion these days. I also noticed a small tattoo on her left forearm that definitely hadn't been there the last time I had seen her. She had a puzzled look on her face and I took the hand, that was still hanging in the air, down next to my side.

"You look weird with brown hair." was the first thing she said, which surprised me. I thought she already would've started shouting at me about how stupid I was leaving her by herself, but she didn't seem to be that bothered. However, I hadn't gone into the room yet away from the public eye, which might've been the reason why she hadn't. She stepped aside and let me through the door.

"I could say the same about your red locks." I replied as I walked into the room. The hotel was standard. Small bathroom that had a really bright light in it, one that I walked past quickly to stop my eyes from hurting too much, and a coffee table with two chairs either side of it. There was a double bed on the right and I stopped myself from walking any further into the room, unsure of where to sit. If I sat on the chair, she might have seen it as too formal, whereas if I sat on the bed, she might have seen it as too direct. I just wanted to talk to her. I saw a few plans for the prison break scattered across her desk, but decided not to mention it yet.

"Did everything go okay with Barnes?" she asked, squeezing past me to go and sit by the bed, easing the wig off of her head as she did. Her hair was tightly pressed against her head in some kind of net to keep it from falling out of the wig. I felt it so necessary to pull her close and bury my nose in her neck to smell her and kiss across her cheeks so that she didn't need to worry.

"Everything was fine." I replied, sitting down next to her on the soft mattress. She pulled her legs up from underneath her and cross them over, but I just sat there, a little awkwardly, trying not to stare at her face for too long. She looked at me and smiled softly, making it practically impossible to not be distracted by her face. We stayed there for a few seconds and didn't do anything...just...looked at each other. Even though we were both in undercover clothes and I had different hair and she had tattoos, we were still Steve and Sharon. No S.H.I.E.L.D. No major mission to complete. No mess.

"We're going to have to talk about this at some point." she said, waving her hand in the air to emphasise her point, but I caught it immediately, like a reflex. The grip wasn't hard against her skin, but it still made her gasp. I brought her hand down onto the bed and used my thumb to stroke across her pulse, feeling it elevate as I continued my movements.

"I like you." I admitted, feeling confident that she felt the same way. I turned my gaze from our hands to her face that was intent on looking at my face. I wondered how long she had looked at me like that, but let it go as I continued what I was saying. "A lot." I added with a brief laugh. She let out a soft, jagged breath of air and I felt a shudder go down my back at the sound of it. "Would we be able to get that coffee sometime this week?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in hope. Sharon was different to the other women that I had encountered, most of them instantly changing things about them as I met them, but Sharon was a constant and made me feel like I actually had some stability in my life.

She let a small smile grace her lips and she unfolded her legs, leaning over to place a kiss on my cheek. Her lips were warm and soft, causing another shudder to crawl down my spine. She slowly pulled away, but still kept our faces only a few centimetres apart. Our breaths were short and laboured, like we were both suffocating from the tension in the room. "I would love to." she whispered and I took her chin between my thumb and finger to bring her head forward to kiss her softly on the lips. As soon as the contact was made, an energy started pulsing through me and it didn't take me long before I was pushing her onto the bed, carefully dipping her into the mattress as I weaved my hands through her hair, the blonde hair falling out of it's place as I took off the net she was wearing to touch her hair.

Her head rested on the pillow of the bed with me lying on top of her, my injury forgotten about and painless at that moment. She was slowly undoing the buttons of my shirt and I found it to be torturous. Her plump lips teased their way across my jawline and down my neck, pulling a groan from the depths of my throat. She turned us over so I was on the bottom and her legs were straddling mine, a sight that I was suddenly very fond of seeing. I had never been this close to a woman before, apart from people that I had sparred with, but having Sharon's legs around my groin definitely wasn't the same thing. Her lips travelled across my neck and to the tops of my chest that were exposed from my shirt, a blush forming there from my heart's fast rhythm. Without realising, I bucked my hips against her, making her squeal with delight and grab me roughly by my shirt, tugging me upwards a bit more.

"Wait...w-wait..." I whispered, forcing myself to pull away from her lips. I saw them become slightly swollen from my attack, but tried not to get distracted. "I don't want to...do anything if you aren't ready." I told her, honestly, hoping that she knew where I stood as I tried to regain my breath back. I was meant to have perfect health as a super soldier, but she somehow seemed to make me breathless. I would've loved to have had sex with her, but if she didn't want that, then I would completely respect her wishes. The fiery connection between us made me realise that there was never going to be anyone else that I would feel this with.

She came close to the shell of my ear and her lips grazed against the shell of my ear, causing my muscles to tighten. "Show me what you've got Rogers..." she whispered, her tantalising tone making me shiver all over. Having sex didn't define us, but it brought us much closer. We seemed to connect and having our own floor in Wakanda helped us develop our relationship without having to worry about press or teammates judging us. It was a perfect getaway. After that, we knew what we were going to be. Together.

 **It is a few minutes late, I know! I'm sorry, but someone was being mean to me online. Please notify me of mistakes on this by the way.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW THIS BECAUSE IT TOOK ME AGES!**


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